A new international study has found that treating both aortic valve narrowing and a lesser-known condition called cardiac amyloidosis can significantly improve survival in older adults.
The research, led by teams at MedUni Vienna and University College London, is the first to show that a combined approach—heart valve replacement plus drug treatment for amyloidosis—can help patients live longer.
Aortic stenosis is a condition where the heart valve that pumps blood out to the body becomes stiff and narrow. It’s common in older people and makes the heart work harder to push blood through the body.
Cardiac amyloidosis is another condition that often affects older adults, where abnormal proteins build up in the heart muscle. These protein deposits, called amyloid, make the heart stiffer and weaker over time.
Both conditions are serious and, when they occur together, they put a heavy strain on the heart. Until now, the main treatment for patients with both issues has been surgery to replace the faulty valve. But the amyloid build-up has often gone untreated.
The study looked at data from 226 patients across ten countries who had both aortic stenosis and cardiac amyloidosis. The researchers wanted to know if treating the amyloidosis with a drug called tafamidis—along with valve surgery—could help patients live longer.
The results, published in the European Heart Journal, were clear: patients who had both the valve replacement and took tafamidis lived significantly longer than those who only received one treatment—or no treatment for amyloidosis at all.
In fact, the people who received both treatments had a similar long-term survival rate to patients with just aortic stenosis, meaning the drug therapy helped offset the added risk of having amyloidosis.
Dr. Christian Nitsche, one of the study’s lead authors, explained that the findings strongly support treating both conditions at the same time. “Our results even show that patients with both conditions who received valve replacement and specific amyloidosis therapy had similar long-term survival rates to people with aortic stenosis without amyloidosis,” he said.
This discovery could lead to big changes in how older heart patients are treated. Right now, about 10% of people with severe aortic stenosis also have cardiac amyloidosis—but doctors often miss it because they don’t routinely test for it. That means many patients are not getting the full treatment they need.
The study’s authors are urging doctors to start screening patients with aortic stenosis for amyloidosis. If caught early, amyloidosis can be slowed down with the right medication, which, when combined with surgery, gives patients a much better chance of living longer and feeling better.
This study marks a major step forward in the treatment of a complex but common combination of heart conditions in older adults. Until now, the standard approach was only to replace the damaged heart valve, leaving the protein buildup in the heart muscle unaddressed.
The new evidence shows that ignoring the amyloidosis may leave patients at continued risk—while treating it alongside the valve issue can dramatically improve their outlook.
The drug tafamidis, already used for some types of amyloidosis, is shown here to be effective even when the patient also has aortic stenosis. This is especially important because amyloidosis is often silent or goes unnoticed. By routinely testing older patients with valve disease for amyloidosis, doctors can now offer a more complete and life-extending treatment.
In short, the message is clear: older patients with aortic stenosis should be carefully checked for signs of cardiac amyloidosis. When both are found, a combined treatment plan—surgery plus medication—offers the best chance for longer, healthier lives.
If you care about heart disease, please read studies about a big cause of heart failure, and common blood test could advance heart failure treatment.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about a new way to repair human heart, and results showing drinking coffee may help reduce heart failure risk.
The research findings can be found in European Heart Journal.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
